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Across country from Ohio State ' University comes a news "tip" that , adds another chapter to the unique history of Pawtucket's Pidge House. j! Much has been written about that \ famous old landmark and its dwell- [ ers from colonial times to the pres¬ ent, but today a hitherto little known fact came to light—Pidge House was an important link in the historic "underground railroad" by .•which slaves were spirited from* the * South to freedom in Canada in pre- s Emancipation days.
Writing from his campus, Dr'' W. iH, Siebert, professor of historical ^research, who has set, himse'lf the task of tracing the "under-ground railroad", addressed queries* for in¬ formation to Postmaster George W. -Burgess. The Ohio savant, back¬ tracking through old do<r.uments 7,and records, had come across indi¬ cations that the mythical raVlroad .-.wound through iPawtuckef, wiiiere 7:there was an overnight stop. 7j RECALLS RUNAWAY TRIO. s Eighty-year-old Samuel Pidge, who lives at 144 Pidge avenue, to¬ day confirmed this report and re¬ called episodes of his boyhood when he assisted his father and grand¬ father to shelter and hide the dusky fugitives In the Pidge house stables. Although he does not recall where they went after leaving the place, it is; fairly certain that most of them found their way along the Post road to Boston into the care of William Lloyd Garrison, noted anti-slavery crusader,- thence north¬ ward across New England into Canada.
The underground railroad "ran" from Pall River, where some of the slaves probably arrived on ship¬ board, overland to this city fen route to the Hub. James S. Pidge, father of Samuel, and Ira Pidge, Samuel's grandfather, he? recalled,- hid the runaways, arriving under cover of night, in a large stable, long since! torn down, in "Pidge Lane", about |
400 feet from the Pidge farmhouse, '- Pidge Lane now is Pidge avenue.
Mr Pidge recalls that southern slave-holders had their own counter- system of apprehending runaway*. working in co-operation w th U« law officers of the North .although overwhelmingly majority opinion was against slavery. For that iea- son, it was necessary to be more oi ; less secretive about sheltering them. The sizable Quaker colony m this district played a prominent part in thwarting slaveholders. -
Arriving in Pawtucket after night¬ fall, the fugitives needed only the name of the Pidge family for ref¬ erence. Friendly Quakers would direct them to Pidge house, then a farmhouse but formerly a post road tavern.
SLEPT WITH CATTLE.
lhe part played by Samuel Fidge's the rLand *randfather in aiding hidhL nf68, WaS the simPle °™ Of uel p1i Slayes in the barn- Sam- thl »i?g6, USed t0 peeP fearfully at
her's iTr meir hidd6n in his fa- iner s barn, and wonder who tausrhf
em the Wad of English langufge
aSf ,USe? i? SPeakin^ to him He aiso kept his mouth shut. "I re-
iAember two big men fugitives and one woman, who were hidden in the barn at different times," Mr. Pidge said. "Their southern accent was too much for me and I could hardly understand a word they spoke."
The "underground system" main¬ tained by the southern planters, ac¬ cording to Mr. Pidge, was "a line of communications with the police authorities figuring in it." The au¬ thorities were supposed to appre¬ hend the slaves and return them i to their masters. 1
In those days slaves were "con¬ sidered big property worth hundreds of dollars to their owners." Mr. Pidge said he could not recall that any had been apprehended in Paw¬ tucket. There was much talk in the North against slavery at that time. The content of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was known throughout the North, and sympathy for Uncle Tom, Little Eva., and Eliza Harris, who was chased over the ice by the blood¬ hounds of Simon Legree, ran high,
The Pidge farm was a large es¬ tablishment in the period before Lincoln freed the slaves. Mr. Pidge indicated his forbears put the runaway slaves in the barn for safety, and not for social reasons. While almost everybody was in¬ clined to help the slaves reach Can¬ ada, the slave owners nevertheless had their spies in northern com- —•"niiies on the runaway slave
route, "which Took in Fall River, Pawtucket and points around Mans¬ field, Mass.
To have kept the slaves in the Pidge dwelling would have been bad for their safety, because some¬ one lacking sympathy might *see them and have them arrested for a reward.
Mr. Pidge said the slaves assisted by the Pidges were content to sleep with the Pidge cattle. They usually arrived in the early morning, be- jfore dawn. The three runaways, recalled by Mr. Pidge as a boy, car¬ ried sticks with bundles resting on their shoulders. They resumed their journey afoot when darkness again set in. Meantime they were fed with food taken from the Pidge family table to the barn.
LINK TO PAWTUCKET.
Prof. Siebert's letter to the Post¬ master indicated that "in the days before the Civil War Robert Adams of Pall River, Massachusetts, as¬ sisted fugitive slaves to reach Paw¬ tucket." Mr. Pidge couldn't say whether his father co-operated with the Fall River man.
"To whom he (Adams) delivered them," the "Siebert letter went on to state, "I do not know, - but would like to find out. If there is anyone who takes special interest in the local history of your town and would send me data concerning the workings of the "Underground Railroad" in Pawtucket from any
reliable source I would like to com¬ municate with him or her.
To this end, will you please hand this letter to such a person. I may add that I am' tracing the routes of travel used by fugitive slaves through the New England States, and am trying to fill in certain gaps." ,
(Times readers wh'o may have additional information on the "un¬ derground railway" and its Paw¬ tucket depots may communicate with Editor or Dr. Siebert at Ohio University.)

AtFu9iti^Slavemd
aled eout
h
P
Across country from Ohio State ' University comes a news "tip" that , adds another chapter to the unique history of Pawtucket's Pidge House. j! Much has been written about that \ famous old landmark and its dwell- [ ers from colonial times to the pres¬ ent, but today a hitherto little known fact came to light—Pidge House was an important link in the historic "underground railroad" by .•which slaves were spirited from* the * South to freedom in Canada in pre- s Emancipation days.
Writing from his campus, Dr'' W. iH, Siebert, professor of historical ^research, who has set, himse'lf the task of tracing the "under-ground railroad", addressed queries* for in¬ formation to Postmaster George W. -Burgess. The Ohio savant, back¬ tracking through old do